Austria's beer drinkers win silver medal

Austria's breweries offer 1,000 different varieties of beer. Last year they produced a total of nearly 9 million hectolitres.

While it is true that in 2009 Austrians drank just 106.4 litres of beer per head (less than lthe previous year's 109L, this was still enough to retain second place and the silver medal in worldwide per-capita-beer consumption, just behind the Czech Republic.

Including exports, Austria's breweries sold around 8.4 million hectolitres of beer in 2009. Around 1000 different types of beer are produced in Austria's 174 breweries.